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Thai Soldiers Converge on Protesters' Camp

By

James Hookway

Updated May 19, 2010 1:02 a.m. ET

BANGKOK—At least two people were killed Wednesday when Thai soldiers converged on a heavily fortified camp held by thousands of antigovernment protesters in Bangkok in a bid to contain increasingly violent Red Shirt demonstrators.

Hundreds of soldiers armed with semiautomatic rifles gathered on streets leading to the protesters' encampment, witnesses and television reports said. Demonstrators lit kerosene-soaked tires, shrouding parts of the city in thick plumes of smoke.